


waiting

by hydrospanners



Series: renegade [26]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Mentions of Limb Loss, Post-Class Story, Pre-KOTFE, Set During The Carbonite Years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 06:05:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14326194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrospanners/pseuds/hydrospanners
Summary: Jedi Master Nirea Velaran may be gone, but she is not forgotten, and some people will always be waiting for her to come back.





	waiting

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr. Written for Fictober 2017.

Rhese flexes the hand, transfixed by the way light catches on the gleaming fingers. “The response time is good,” he says. “It feels…”

“I hear you get used to it,” Doc says. “Eventually.”

“The new articulations are going to take some practice.” Pinching with the flesh-and-blood fingers of his other—his _real_ —hand, Rhese bends the middle finger of his shiny new hand all the way back until the nail is almost touching his wrist. The joints don’t resist him, but he feels, somewhere in the back of his mind, an echo of pain. Ghosts of feeling from a limb he no longer has.

Doc shakes his head. “Your sister is going to kill me.”

“You? You weren’t even there.”

“That’s exactly what she’s going to say.”

Rhese finds himself smiling. He’s sure she’ll understand, eventually, why they couldn’t stay together, but Doc is right. Rea’s always been overprotective. The second she sees the arm, she’ll be letting Doc have it, two years of separation be damned. For reasons Rhese has never understood, responsibility for their little crew seems to default to Doc when Rea can’t be there to look after them herself.

“I’m sure she’ll let it go when you point out that she wasn’t there either,” he says. “At least you did something to fix it. What did she do?”

“Rhese—“

“Please don’t try to comfort me. You’re no good at it.”

“Now that’s just not true. I’m very comforting. Ask anyone.”

“Your idea of comfort is a quickie in the supply closet. I think I’ll pass.”

Doc sighs. “Some people just don’t want to be helped.”

“Speaking of,” Rhese slides off the exam table and grabs his tunic. He slips his new arm into it slowly, hyperaware of how scratchy the fabric feels against it, and of how distant that feeling… feels. He clears his throat and tries not to think too much about it right now. “You have other patients. I’ll get out of your hair.”

Doc looks thoughtful for a moment, opening his mouth once or twice as if to say something but thinks better of it. Eventually, he just says, “Don’t forget your exercises. And you know where I am if you have any problems.”

Rhese nods, puts on his robe and belt, and turns for the door.

He’s half in the hall when Doc calls his name. He turns, swallowing a sudden rise of emotion in his throat. Doc seems to be doing the same, a curious expression on his face.

“She’ll be back,” he says. “I know you already know that, but… Doesn’t hurt to be reminded.”

Rhese swallows again, not even sure which emotion he’s trying to repress at this point. Anger? Sadness? Loneliness? Fear? There’s a maelstrom of it, spinning and twisting together in his belly. Mostly he ignores it, but sometimes…

He chants the Code in the back of his mind.

“She’ll be back,” Doc promises. “And you and me’ll be here waiting.”


End file.
